Rescue Box

Those are the Flu symptoms. Easy to recognize and not hard to cure. Take some pills, hot tea and extended bed time will do the trick.

Trouble concentrating, remembering details, and making decisions;

Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, and helplessness;

Pessimism and hopelessness;

Insomnia, early-morning wakefulness, or sleeping too much;

Irritability;

Restlessness;

Loss…..

We all familiar with each one of those symptoms. Can you tell me what those are?

Depression, my friend.

What do you do when you are feeling depressed?

Can you take a magic pill?There is no pill in the World that will cure this illness. Maybe talk to a doctor? Sure! He will prescribe you a bunch of antidepressants that will silence the symptoms – at best. Not a single doctor will help you, and no one will. It’s all on you, buddy, and it’s all in your head. You are the ONLY person who can help.

Over the past few months I’ve been keeping a journal of the things, thoughts and experiences that made me feel a certain way. At the times when I felt great, uplifted, excited, when I smiled, I wrote down what made me feel that way. Another page was less optimistic, as I would list the thoughts, experiences and things that made me feel particularly bad, depressed and helpless.

Data is useless unless it’s actionable

What was the point of doing that?

My theory is simple: If you want to be happier, do more things that make you feel happy and stay away from those that make you feel unhappy.

Using this approach helped me to pull myself out of the dark places of my head. However, sometimes negative thoughts and emotions are so strong that they have power to literally paralyze you.They suck all the life energy out of you. You don’t think clearly. You can’t even ask for help, when the help is really what you need right now.

Consider yourself lucky if you have a good support system, a safety net of people that truly care and love you. Love is the ultimate antidote agains depression. But what do you do if you don’t have that luxury? What if you’re on your own, face to face with a depression? You need a rescue buoy, the personal rescue buoy that is specifically made by you for yourself.

Remember how I was making notes of the things that made me feel good? Now you are going to make your list actionable.

Get yourself a box, a container of your own preference. Big, small, black or red, plastic or metal, rectangular or round, I don’t care and no one does. You make it just for yourself. It can be something similar to lotto spinning wheel or lottery wheel:

or

Be as creative as you can here. The only criteria is that it has to be YOURS, it has to be personal and you should like it.

Then take each “good” thing from “Make me feel good” list and put it in your box. Use a separate piece of paper, a ball, a card etc. Place your “rescue” kit in a secure place and let it wait until the time comes. And the time will come, as its not even the question of IF, but a question of WHEN?

Now when you found yourself hopeless; feeling anxiety, nervousness, restlessness, or feeling tense; or maybe even considering a suicide, brake the circle!get your rescue kit! close your eyes, pull one thing out of it and DO IT!